JP6555658B2 - Outside air bag - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an exterior airbag, and more particularly to an exterior airbag that protects a person to be protected from a collision with a pair of front pillars.

Conventionally, when a person to be protected such as a pedestrian collides with an automobile, an air bag for protecting the outside from the impact of the collision is used. Generally, an air bag for an outside of a vehicle is folded and accommodated in an automobile, and is deployed by injecting a developing gas into the inside. When this deployed airbag for outside the vehicle receives the person to be protected, it deforms according to the pressure from the person to be protected, so that the collision energy of the person to be protected can be absorbed.
For example, an airbag that is deployed along a front pillar that is hard in an automobile has been put to practical use. Since the person to be protected collides with the front pillar in various directions and speeds, an air bag for vehicle exterior corresponding to these collisions is required.

  Therefore, as a technique for protecting a protection target person who collides at a high speed, for example, in Patent Document 1, a door portion formed on a cover member is arranged on the front side of the mirror body so that the inner edge side faces outward. There has been proposed an airbag device having a front door portion that opens and an inner door portion that is disposed inside the mirror main body and opens so that the front edge side is directed rearward. In this airbag device, when the airbag is deployed, the bag body is quickly projected from the projection opening formed by opening the front door portion and the inner door portion, so that the person to be protected collides with the front pillar. Can be deployed to protect the person being protected.

JP 2011-213142 A

  However, the airbag device of Patent Document 1 protects only the collision with the front pillar, and has a problem that the protection range is narrow. For example, the person to be protected may collide with the windshield adjacent to the front pillar at the same time as colliding with the front pillar. In addition, the person to be protected may fly to the side after colliding with the front pillar, and may collide with an oncoming vehicle or the like in a secondary collision. In particular, in a collision with a bicycle, since the position of the center of gravity of the person to be protected driving the bicycle is high, the person to be protected is skipped over a wider range, and the risk of a secondary collision increases. In this way, in an actual collision accident, since the protection target person is skipped over a wide range including the front pillar, it is required to comprehensively protect the protection target person from various collisions.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an external airbag that can protect a person to be protected in a wide range.

An automotive airbag according to the present invention is a standing airbag that deploys to rise upward from the vicinity of the root portion of the pair of front pillars in front of the pair of front pillars positioned on both sides in the width direction of the windshield in the automobile . A pillar airbag that is deployed along a pair of front pillars is provided , and the standing airbag falls down so as to be folded over the pillar airbag by pressure from the front .

  Here, the standing airbag is preferably deployed so as to extend in a columnar shape upward from two locations corresponding to the pair of front pillars.

  In addition, at least one intermediate airbag that extends in a column shape from the vicinity of the lower edge of the windshield upwards at a position between the standing airbags that are deployed corresponding to the pair of front pillars. Is preferred.

  Further, the standing airbag can be deployed so as to cover the entire surface from one front pillar of the pair of front pillars to the other front pillar.

Moreover, it is preferable to further include a support portion that supports the standing airbag so that the posture is maintained against the pressure from the front.
Moreover, it is preferable that a support part consists of a tether which one end was fixed to the standing airbag, and the other end was fixed ahead of the standing airbag 1 in a motor vehicle.
Moreover, a support part can be accommodated along the clearance gap between the front hood and front fender of a motor vehicle.

  According to the present invention, since the standing airbag is deployed so as to rise upward from the vicinity of the root portions of the pair of front pillars, it is possible to provide an automotive airbag that can protect a person to be protected in a wide range. It becomes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The structure of the vehicle exterior airbag which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention is shown, (A) is a front view, (B) is a side view. It is a figure which shows the airbag for vehicle exterior accommodated in the motor vehicle. It is a figure which shows a mode that the protection subject who drives a bicycle collides with a motor vehicle. It is a side view which shows a mode that the protection subject was received with the standing airbag. It is a front view which shows the structure of the airbag for vehicle exterior which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a front view which shows the connection part which connects an intermediate part airbag and a standing airbag. It is a front view which shows the structure of the airbag for vehicle exterior which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a side view which shows the structure of the airbag for vehicle exterior which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a side view which shows the structure of the airbag for vehicle exterior which concerns on the modification of Embodiment 1-4. It is a side view which shows the structure of the airbag for vehicle outside which concerns on the other modification of Embodiment 1-4.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Embodiment 1
1 (A) and 1 (B) show the configuration of an exterior airbag according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The exterior airbag 1 is a standing airbag 1 that is deployed so as to rise upward from the vicinity of the root portion R of the pair of front pillars P in front of the pair of front pillars P positioned on both sides in the width direction of the windshield W of the automobile M. And a support portion 2 that supports the standing airbag 1 so that the posture is maintained against the pressure from the front.

  In the automobile M, the windshield W is disposed to be inclined rearward from the lower edge portion toward the upper edge portion, and the pair of front pillars P is disposed to be inclined along both side edge portions of the windshield W. ing. Here, the root portion R of the front pillar P is disposed at a position corresponding to the lower end of the side portion of the windshield W. A front hood H is disposed so as to project forward from the vicinity of the lower edge of the windshield W so as to cover the front portion of the automobile M, and the root portions R of the pair of front pillars P are disposed along both side portions of the front hood H. A fender F is disposed so as to extend forward from the vicinity.

The standing airbag 1 is formed in a bag shape having a hollow inside, and is expanded so as to extend in a column shape upward from two locations corresponding to the pair of front pillars P by injecting a developing gas into the bag. That is, the standing airbag 1 extends in a direction different from that of the front pillar P so that the distance from the front pillar P is sequentially increased toward the top. The standing airbag 1 has a substantially cylindrical shape and is deployed with such a width and height as to hide the front pillar P from the front.
The support portion 2 is made of a tether, and one end is fixed to the upper end of the side portion of the standing airbag 1 and the other end is fixed to the front of the standing airbag 1 in the automobile M.

FIG. 2 shows an exterior airbag that is accommodated in the automobile M.
The stand-up airbag 1 is a storage portion disposed below the front hood H that covers the front portion of the automobile M, specifically, below the rear side of the front hood H adjacent to the root portion R of the front pillar P. 3 is housed in a folded state. The housing portion 3 is provided with an inflator 4, and the inflator 4 is connected to the lower end portion of the standing airbag 1. When the developing gas is injected from the inflator 4 into the standing airbag 1, the standing airbag 1 is deployed outside the vehicle through a gap between the rear edge of the front hood H and the lower edge of the windshield W. The The deployment direction of the standing airbag 1 can be controlled by, for example, the direction of the deployment gas injected from the inflator 4, the shape of the standing airbag 1, and how the standing airbag 1 is folded.
Moreover, the support part 2 is accommodated inside along the gap G between the front hood H and the front fender F of the automobile M, and is exposed to the outside from the gap G as the standing airbag 1 is deployed.

  Here, the standing airbag 1 is deployed outside the vehicle with only the lower end portion fixed to the automobile M. As in the prior art, in an air bag for an outside vehicle that is deployed along the front pillar P, the airbag is fixed over almost the entire length of the front pillar P. It is necessary to make major changes. In the present invention, since only the lower end portion of the standing airbag 1 is fixed to the automobile M, it is possible to correspond to the automobile M having various shapes in the same form.

Next, an example in which the vehicle airbag is deployed to protect the person to be protected will be described.
First, when a person to be protected such as a pedestrian or a bicycle driver approaches the front of the automobile M, a detection sensor (not shown) mounted on the automobile M detects the person to be protected. As the detection sensor, for example, a sensor that irradiates a protection subject with a laser and detects the sensor, a sensor that detects based on an image obtained from a camera, and the like can be used.
When it is determined that the person to be protected collides with the automobile M based on the detection information obtained from the detection sensor, as shown in FIG. 2, the deployed gas is supplied from the inflator 4 into the standing airbag 1 accommodated in the accommodating portion 3. Is injected. As a result, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the standing airbag 1 is deployed so as to extend in a columnar shape from the vicinity of the root portion R of the pair of front pillars P upward. Further, as the standing airbag 1 is deployed, the support portion 2 is exposed outside the vehicle through the gap G, and the upper portion of the standing airbag 1 and the front portion of the automobile M are connected in a straight line. The airbag 1 is supported with respect to the automobile M.

  Here, the person to be protected who collides with the automobile M may be skipped over a wide range. In particular, as shown in FIG. 3, when the automobile M collides with the person to be protected C who drives the bicycle, the position of the center of gravity of the person to be protected C is high, so there is a risk of being thrown to a wider rear range. For example, the person C to be protected who has been blown to the top of the front pillar P may be further blown to the roof of the automobile M after colliding with the front pillar P. In addition, the person C to be protected who has been blown to the side of the automobile M may collide with the side of the front pillar P and be thrown further to the side, causing a secondary collision with an oncoming vehicle or the like.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, when the standing airbag 1 is deployed so as to rise in front of the front pillar P, the standing airbag 1 is deployed along the front pillar P. Compared with, the person to be protected C can be received more forward. The person C to be protected may be greatly deviated from the first collision position with the automobile M and may be widely dislocated, but the standing person airbag 1 may be used before the area to be protected C is widened. By receiving it, it is possible to reliably protect the person C to be protected who is skipped in various directions.
Further, since the standing airbag 1 is deployed upward from the vicinity of the root portion R of the front pillar P, it is disposed near the front pillar P. For this reason, compared with the case where the standing airbag 1 is deployed forward from the vicinity of the root portion R of the front pillar P, for example, upward from the middle portion of the fender F, the person to be protected C directly collides with the front pillar P. Can be greatly suppressed.
That is, by expanding the standing airbag 1 so as to rise upward from the vicinity of the root portion R of the front pillar P, it is possible to greatly expand the protection range of the person C to be protected while preventing direct collision with the front pillar P. it can.

Further, since the lower part of the standing airbag 1 is fixed to the automobile M and the upper part is supported by the support part 2, as shown in FIG. It bends and deforms so as to enclose the person C to be protected. Thereby, it is possible to hold the person to be protected C on the front side of the standing airbag 1 and to prevent the person to be protected C from jumping out of the standing airbag 1.
In this way, the collision energy of the person to be protected C is absorbed by the standing airbag 1, and the person to be protected C can be protected from the impact of the collision. In addition, when the protection subject C collides with the automobile M, the direction in which the protection subject C is blown is determined based on the detection information obtained from the detection sensor, and two standing airbags corresponding to the pair of front pillars P are detected. It is also possible to deploy only the standing airbag 1 located in the direction in which the protection subject C is skipped.

  According to the present embodiment, the standing airbag 1 is deployed so as to rise upward from the vicinity of the root portion R of the front pillar P and catches the person C to be protected more forward. Can be protected.

Embodiment 2
In the vehicle exterior airbag of the first embodiment, it extends in a column shape upward from the vicinity of the lower end of the windshield W to a position between the standing airbags 1 deployed at two locations corresponding to the pair of front pillars P. There may be provided at least one intermediate airbag for deployment.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5, two intermediate airbags 21 that are deployed at a position between the standing airbags 1 can be provided. The two intermediate airbags 21 are deployed so as to extend in a column shape upward from the vicinity of the lower edge of the windshield W, respectively. That is, the intermediate airbag 21 extends in a direction different from that of the windshield W so that the distance from the windshield W is sequentially increased toward the top. Further, the intermediate airbag 21 is provided so as to be arranged at equal intervals in a row in the width direction of the automobile M with respect to the standing airbag 1, and the interval is set to such a distance that the protection subject C does not pass through. Is set.

By providing such an intermediate airbag 21, it is possible to receive and protect the person C to be protected, which is blown toward the windshield W, with the intermediate airbag 21. At this time, the intermediate portion airbag 21 receives pressure when receiving the protection subject C, falls backward, falls backwards along the windshield W, and then relieves pressure from the protection subject C. Deform. Here, the intermediate airbag 21 absorbs the collision energy of the person C to be protected not only when it deforms but also when it falls backward. That is, the intermediate airbag 21 absorbs the collision energy of the person C to be protected in two stages, that is, the stage of falling backward and the stage of deformation, and can gradually absorb the collision energy.
Further, since the intermediate airbag 21 is deployed so as to rise in front of the windshield W, the protection subject C can be received more forward, and the protection subject C can be surely secured before the range to be blown widens. Can be protected.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, it is preferable to provide the connection part 22 which connects the upper part of the intermediate part airbag 21 and the upper part of the standing airbag 1 mutually. As a result, the posture when the intermediate airbag 21 is deployed and the posture after deployment can be supported by the standing airbag 1, and the intermediate airbag 21 can be deployed so as to extend in a predetermined direction.

Embodiment 3
In the first and second embodiments, the standing airbag 1 is deployed so as to extend upward in a columnar shape corresponding to the pair of front pillars P, but from the vicinity of the root portion R to the front of the pair of front pillars P. What is necessary is just to expand | deploy so that it may stand up, It is not restricted to this.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to provide a standing airbag 31 that is deployed so as to cover the entire surface from one front pillar Pa to the other front pillar Pb of a pair of front pillars P. The standing airbag 31 has a flat protective surface 32 on the front surface, and the protective surface 32 can receive the person C to be protected.
One end of the support portion 2 is fixed to the upper end of the side portion of the standing airbag 31, and the other end is fixed to the front of the standing airbag 31 in the automobile M.

  Thus, by providing the standing airbag 31 that completely covers the front pillar P and the windshield W, it is possible to reliably catch the protection target person C flying toward the front pillar P and the windshield W by the protective surface 32. it can. At this time, since the standing airbag 31 is deployed so as to rise in front of the front pillar P and the windshield W, the person to be protected C can be received in front and the range to which the person to be protected C can fly is widened. The person C to be protected can be reliably received before. Moreover, since the upper part of the standing airbag 31 is supported by the support part 2, it deform | transforms so that it may be bent forward and receives the protection subject C. Thereby, it is possible to hold the person to be protected C on the front side of the standing airbag 31 and to prevent the person to be protected C from jumping out of the standing airbag 31.

Embodiment 4
In the vehicle exterior airbags according to the first to third embodiments, a pillar airbag that extends along the pair of front pillars P can be further provided.
For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a pillar airbag 41 that extends along the pair of front pillars P while removing the support portion 2 can be provided in the vehicle exterior airbag of the first embodiment.
The pillar airbag 41 is provided integrally with the standing airbag 1 and is deployed so as to extend along the front pillar P from the vicinity of the root portion R of the front pillar P. The pillar airbag 41 deployed in this manner covers the base portion R to the middle portion of the front pillar P.

First, when the person C to be protected is blown toward the front pillar P due to a collision with the automobile M, the person C to be protected is received by the standing airbag 1. At this time, the standing airbag 1 is tilted backward so as to receive pressure from the person C to be protected and fold over the pillar airbag 41. When the standing airbag 1 is completely folded over the pillar airbag 41, the standing airbag 1 is greatly deformed and the pillar airbag 41 is also deformed by the pressure from the person C to be protected. In this way, the collision energy of the person C to be protected is absorbed in stages at the stage where the standing airbag 1 falls backward, the stage where the standing airbag 1 is deformed, and the stage where the pillar airbag 41 is deformed. Therefore, the collision energy can be absorbed more slowly.
Moreover, the airbag 41 for pillars is arrange | positioned so that the front pillar P may be covered directly, and even when the protection subject C slips through the standing airbag 1, it can prevent colliding with the front pillar P directly. .

In addition, you may provide the support part 2 which fixed the other end to the motor vehicle M while fixing one end to the side part upper end of the standing airbag 1 similarly to Embodiment 1, without removing the support part 2. FIG. Thereby, when receiving the protection subject C, it is possible to suppress the protection subject C from jumping out of the standing airbag 1 and to absorb the collision energy of the protection subject C step by step.
Further, the pillar airbag 41 can be provided separately from the standing airbag 1 without being provided integrally with the standing airbag 1.

  According to the present embodiment, since the standing airbag 1 falls down so as to be folded over the pillar airbag 41, the collision energy of the person C to be protected can be absorbed more gently.

In the first to fourth embodiments, a guide portion that guides the direction in which the standing airbag rises can be further provided.
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, in the vehicle exterior airbag of the first embodiment, a guide portion 51 in which a pair of front pillars P and the standing airbag 1 are connected by a tether can be provided. The guide portion 51 supports the upper end portion of the standing airbag 1 on the front pillar P to guide the rising direction of the standing airbag 1 so that the standing airbag 1 can be smoothly deployed in front of the front pillar P. be able to.

  Moreover, in said Embodiment 1-4, although the standing airbag was expanded so that it might extend only upwards from the root part R vicinity of the front pillar P, a deployment direction is set according to the collision direction of the protection subject C. It can also be changed. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, in the airbag for vehicle exterior of the first embodiment, the deployment direction of the standing airbag 1 is changed in various directions such as a direction along the front hood H and a direction along the front pillar P. be able to. The deployment direction of the standing airbag 1 can be changed depending on the direction of the deployment gas injected from the inflator 4.

  Moreover, in said Embodiment 1-4, although the support part 2 was formed from the tether, it should just be able to support a standing airbag with respect to the motor vehicle M, and is not restricted to this. For example, the support portion can be constituted by a base fabric of a standing airbag and a thin airbag.

  1,31 Standing airbag, 2 support part, 3 accommodating part, 4 inflator, 21 intermediate part airbag, 22 connecting part, 41 pillar airbag, 51 guide part, M automobile, W windshield, P pair of front pillars , Pa One front pillar, Pb The other front pillar, R Front pillar root, H front hood, F front fender, G gap, C Protected person.

Claims (7)

A standing airbag that deploys to rise upward from the vicinity of the root portion of the pair of front pillars in front of the pair of front pillars located on both sides of the windshield in the width direction of the automobile ,
A pillar airbag that deploys along the pair of front pillars ;
The standing airbag is an airbag for an outside vehicle that collapses so as to be folded over the pillar airbag by pressure from the front .   The vehicle airbag according to claim 1, wherein the standing airbag is deployed so as to extend in a column shape upward from two locations corresponding to the pair of front pillars.   At least one intermediate airbag that is deployed so as to extend in a column shape upward from the vicinity of the lower edge of the windshield at a position between the standing airbags that are deployed corresponding to the pair of front pillars. The external airbag according to claim 2.   2. The exterior airbag according to claim 1, wherein the standing airbag is deployed so as to cover an entire surface extending from one front pillar to the other front pillar of the pair of front pillars.   The airbag for vehicle exterior as described in any one of Claims 1-4 further equipped with the support part which supports the said standing airbag so that a attitude | position is maintained with respect to the pressure from the front.   6. The external airbag according to claim 5, wherein the support portion includes a tether having one end fixed to the standing airbag and the other end fixed to the front of the standing airbag 1 in an automobile.   The airbag according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the support portion is accommodated along a gap between a front hood and a front fender of an automobile.

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